05 June 2013

George Jetson, to the white courtesy phone

Last week I demonstrated my new webcam with a tune, but I didn't actually purchase it to fill your lives with the glories of music. I had an ulterior motive, which I shall now reveal.

There
is a group of folk music fans in New Jersey called the
Folk Project, and they have retreats twice a year where people go to a camp and play
music together. Good times.

Well,
recently they added a new feature to these weekends: a book club. The
coordinator chooses a book related to folk music and you can guess the
rest.

A
few months ago the title was announced for the spring retreat: SUCH A
KILLING CRIME, a mystery set in Greenwich Village during the great folk
music scare of 1963.

One
member of the Folk Project is Lori Falco, and she and I have been
friends since we met while waiting for a bus on the first day of high
school. quite a few years ago. Lori asked the coordinator: "Do you
know the author of that book used to be a member of the Folk Project?"

The
coordinator had not known that. But I was promptly invited to come to
the retreat for the discussion. That wasn't possible but I got a
webcam and a skype account and made a virtual appearance.

It
was a lot of fun. Oh, the usual technical hiccups (no matter how long
Lori and I spent prepping before the show started). Interested people
asking good questions. My favorite: "What was it like putting words in
Phil Ochs' mouth?"

My
answer: not as scary as putting words in the mouth of Tom Paxton.
After all, Tom is still alive. Therefore I was extremely careful to
make him a sympathetic character. (Even though he offered to be the
murderer. And he graciously gave me the following blurb: "Spooky. If
I'd have known he was watching us so carefully, I would have been MUCH
better."

Well,
I had a good time and I would like the chance to chat with ALL the folk
music book clubs in the world. Unfortunately, I suspect I just did.

On a related note, Kearney Street Books informed me this week that SUCH A KILLING CRIME is now available on Kindle, for those who don't care to
read their books, uh, acoustically.

Why Fran, are you suggesting I had a commercial motive? My motives, as always, are pure. But if you want a print copy of the book I am fairly certain my publisher could be persuaded to part with one for a reasonable contribution: http://kearneystreetbooks.com/crimeSummary.html